Accredited official statistics

Main findings: children’s social care in England 2022

Published 7 July 2022

Applies to England

This is the main findings report for the children’s social care in England 2022 release. The following are also available:

• underlying data
• methodology
• pre-release access list

Summary

This release contains:

• inspection outcomes for local authority (LA) children’s services inspections from 1 November 2013, covering all inspections published by 30 April 2022
• the number of providers of children’s social care, and the number of places they are registered for, as at 31 March 2022
• the most recent inspections and outcomes for all regulated and inspected children’s social care provision, as at 31 March 2022, and published by 30 April 2022
• outcomes for all regulated and inspected children’s social care provision inspections carried out between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022 and published by 30 April 2022

The number of new children’s homes in England continues to rise.

As at 31 March 2022, there was a 7% increase in the number of children’s homes and a 4% increase in the number of places compared with 31 March 2021. This continues the long-standing trend of the number of new homes rising faster than the number of new places.

All regions had an increase in the number of children’s homes as at 31 March 2022.

Although all regions had an increase in the number of children’s homes this year, homes are still not evenly distributed across England. The North West still accounts for just over a quarter of all children’s homes, and almost a quarter of all places.

The number of complaints about providers received in 2021 to 2022 was 16% lower than last year.

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we received 780 complaints about 575 providers. This is a decrease on the number of complaints received in the previous year, when there were 932 complaints about 629 providers.

Inspections of local authority children’s services (ILACS) resumed in 2021 to 2022. Following this, the proportion of LAs judged outstanding or good has increased slightly.

As at 31 March 2022, the proportion of LAs judged good or outstanding for overall effectiveness rose to 53%, from 50% in the previous year. After each LA’s first single inspection framework (SIF) inspection, it was 36%.

The number of children’s homes in London has grown by 18%.

As at 31 March 2022, although London was still the smallest region in terms of the proportion of homes in England (6%), it was no longer the smallest in terms of places, with 7%. This is now higher than the South West (6%).

Introduction

Ofsted reports each year on social care inspections and outcomes for LAs, regulated providers and other providers of placements for children in England.

Out of the 12 million children living in England, just under 400,000 (3%) are known to the social care system at any one time. Just over 80,000 of these children are children in care. As at 31 March 2022, across England, there were 152 LAs responsible for ensuring and overseeing the effective delivery of social care services for children. We inspect these LAs to see how their children’s services are performing.

We regulate and/or inspect providers that offer placements for children in care and other providers of placements. As at 31 March 2022, there were 3,576 active or suspended social care providers of these services in England. More information about the different types of providers can be found in Figure 4 and in the glossary.

Inspection of LA children’s services

There have been 23 short or standard ILACS inspections since 1 April 2021.

Overall, since 1 April 2021, we have visited 107 LAs on 129 occasions to carry out short or standard ILACS inspections, focused visits and monitoring visits.

Overall effectiveness of local authorities as at 31 March 2022

As at 31 March 2022, 13% of LAs were judged outstanding, 39% good, 35% requires improvement to be good and 11% inadequate. Nationally, a higher proportion of LAs were judged good or outstanding at 31 March 2022 than after their first SIF inspection.

The proportion of LAs judged outstanding or good has increased slightly, from 50% in 2021 to 53% in 2022. It should be noted that some LAs are still awaiting ILACS inspections so these proportions may be subject to further change.

Figure 1: LA overall effectiveness as at 31 March 2022 and after first SIF inspection

^{Numbers in brackets represent the number of LAs with an overall effectiveness outcome as at 31 March 2022.
View data in an accessible format.}

ILACS activity between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we visited 106 LAs to carry out ILACS activities. We made a total of 129 visits to these LAs.

Figure 2: ILACS inspection activity between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

^{View data in an accessible format.}

ILACS standard and short inspections

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out 23 ILACS standard or short inspections.

Over half of these inspections were judged ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ (57%), leaving the remaining LAs as judged ‘requires improvement to be good’ (30%) or ‘inadequate’ (13%).

Of the 23 inspections, more LAs improved than declined in their overall effectiveness judgement. Ten LAs improved their judgement, while 4 declined. Seven LAs stayed at the same grade. A further 2 LAs received their first inspections during the year – Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (inadequate) and Dorset (good).

Two of the 10 LAs that improved did so by more than one grade:

• Sunderland, from ‘inadequate’ to ‘outstanding’
• Wakefield, from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’

ILACS focused visits and focused assurance visits

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out 62 focused visits to LAs. Details of visit themes are given in Figure 3.

Figure 3: ILACS focused visits by theme between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

^{View data in an accessible format.}

In addition to the 62 focused visits, we also carried out 12 focused assurance visits to LAs.

ILACS monitoring visits

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out a total of 32 monitoring visits to 17 LAs. North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire each received 2 separate monitoring visits during the period. These have yet to receive a graded inspection as new LAs.

Social care providers and places as at 31 March 2022

On 31 March 2022, there were 3,576 social care providers. This is a 5% increase compared with 31 March 2021, when there were 3,402 providers. As with previous years, most of this increase can be accounted for by the increase in children’s homes.

Figure 4: The number of settings as at 31 March 2022 by provider type, and the change from 31 March 2021

^{View data in an accessible format.}

Children’s homes of all types

There were 2,873 children’s homes of all types as at 31 March 2022, a 6% increase (167 homes) from the previous year (2,706).

This year, there was a smaller increase in the number of children’s homes places than the previous 2 years. In total, 2,873 homes were registered for 12,898 places, a 1% increase from the 12,732 places as at 31 March 2021. From 2020 to 2021, there was a 5% increase in the number of places; however, this year dropped back down to the level seen 2 years ago (in 2019 to 2020).

Figure 5: Year-on-year growth in the number of children’s homes and places since 2019

^{View data in an accessible format.}

Children’s homes of all types

In this section, we report separately on the 4 types of children’s homes:

• secure children’s homes
• residential special schools registered as children’s homes
• short-break-only children’s homes
• children’s homes

Secure children’s homes

There were 13 secure children’s homes as at 31 March 2022. Of these, 12 are run by LAs and one by a voluntary organisation.

They are registered for a total of 233 places, of which:

• 132 places are for children placed by local authorities under section 25 of the Children Act 1989
• 101 places are commissioned by the Youth Custody Service for children remanded to custody by the courts or who are serving a custodial sentence

As with last year, there are no secure children’s homes in London or the West Midlands.

There is a shortage of secure children’s homes places in England. At any one time, around 50 children each day (up from 25 last year) are waiting for a secure children’s home place and around 30 (up from 20 last year) are placed by English LAs in Scottish secure units due to the lack of available places. A further challenge is that ‘The Promise, the Scottish Care Review, has recommended that Scotland no longer takes placements from English local authorities.

Residential special schools registered as children’s homes

As at 31 March 2022, there were 62 residential special schools registered as children’s homes, offering 1,573 places. This is a 10% decrease in the number of providers (from 69) and a 12% decrease in number of places (from 1,793) from March 2021.

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, only 1 residential special school registered as a children’s home opened (with 12 places). Meanwhile, 7 residential schools registered as children’s homes closed (177 places) and 1 (22 places) changed registration to become a children’s home.

Private companies ran most residential special schools registered as children’s homes. They operated 46 schools, providing 1,035 places. Voluntary sector organisations ran 13 schools, providing 460 places. LAs ran the remaining 3 schools, providing 78 places.

Short-break-only children’s homes

As at 31 March 2022, there were 156 children’s homes that provided care exclusively for short breaks, offering 982 places. This is a slight decrease from 31 March 2021, when there were 162 homes offering 1,009 places.

Table 1: The number of short-break-only children’s homes and places as at 31 March 2022, by region

Region	Number of short-break-only children’s homes	Percentage of short-break-only children’s homes	Number of short-break-only children’s home places	Percentage of short-break-only children’s home places
East Midlands	10	6%	80	8%
East of England	18	12%	109	11%
London	10	6%	76	8%
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber	31	20%	228	23%
North West	25	16%	129	13%
South East	25	16%	174	18%
South West	17	11%	82	8%
West Midlands	20	13%	104	11%
England	156	100%	982	100%

Further analysis of short-break-only homes was published in our August 2021 research paper ‘Children’s homes providing short breaks’.

Table 2: The number of short-break-only children’s homes and places as at 31 March 2022, by sector

Sector	Number of short-break-only children’s homes	Percentage of short-break-only children’s homes	Number of short-break-only children’s home places	Percentage of short-break-only children’s home places
Health authority	9	6%	53	5%
Local authority	103	66%	644	66%
Private	13	8%	75	8%
Voluntary	31	20%	210	21%
All	156	100%	982	100%

Children’s homes

The number of children’s homes in England continues to rise. There was a 7% increase in the number of homes and a 4% increase in the number of places compared with 31 March 2021. Although the gap between the two is smaller this year, it continues the long-standing trend of the number of new homes rising faster than the number of new places. This reflects that newly registered homes have fewer places on average compared with homes that closed.

Over 80% of new children’s homes were registered for between 1 and 4 places, with only 3% being approved for 7 or more places. Of the children’s homes that closed, 68% were registered for between 1 and 4 places, and 9% were approved for 7 or more places.

Children’s home providers and places as at 31 March 2022

There were 2,642 children’s homes as at 31 March 2022, a 7% increase (180 homes) from the previous year (2,462). These 2,642 homes were registered for 10,113 places, a 4% increase from 9,699 at 31 March 2021. Both the number of homes and places had a slower rate of growth this year compared with the rate in 2021, when the number of homes grew by 11% and places by 8%.

Change in the number of homes by region

As with previous years, children’s homes are not distributed evenly across the country.

As at 31 March 2022, just over a quarter of all children’s homes, and almost a quarter of all places, were in the North West region. This region has also had the largest increase from the previous year in the number of children’s homes (55) and places (108).

Whilst London has had the largest proportionate increase (18%, 22 homes),it remains the region that accounts for the fewest children’s homes (6%). However, as at 31 March 2022, it was no longer the region with the fewest places. London accounted for 7% of overall places and the South West for 6%.

Table 3: The number of children’s homes and the number of places as at 31 March 2022 by region

Region	Number of children’s homes	Percentage of children’s homes	Number of children’s home places	Percentage of children’s home places
East Midlands	288	11%	1,085	11%
East of England	204	8%	917	9%
London	146	6%	727	7%
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber	394	15%	1,541	15%
North West	691	26%	2,331	23%
South East	290	11%	1,388	14%
South West	190	7%	575	6%
West Midlands	439	17%	1,549	15%
England	2,642	100%	10,113	100%

There was an increase in the number of children’s homes in all regions at 31 March 2022. Five regions had an increase that was greater than the national level of 7% (180 homes): London (18%, 22), East of England (15%, 27), North West (9%, 55), South East (9%, 23) and East Midlands (8%, 212).

All but one region also had an increase in the number of places at 31 March 2022. Four regions had a greater increase than the national increase of 4%: London (17%, 106), East of England (13%, 104), North West (5%, 108) and South East (5%, 65).

Table 4: The number of children’s homes and places as at 31 March 2022 and 2021 by region, and percentage change

Region	Number of children’s homes at 31 March 2022	Number of children’s homes places at 31 March 2022	Number of children’s homes at 31 March 2021	Number of children’s homes places at 31 March 2021	Percentage change in children’s homes	Percentage change in children’s homes places
East Midlands	288	1,085	266	1,060	8%	2%
East of England	204	917	177	813	15%	13%
London	146	727	124	627	18%	16%
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber	394	1,541	379	1,530	4%	1%
North West	691	2,331	636	2,223	9%	5%
South East	290	1,388	267	1,321	9%	5%
South West	190	575	181	575	5%	0%
West Midlands	439	1,549	432	1,550	2%	0%
England	2,642	10,113	2,462	9,699	7%	4%

Number of homes by sector

As at 31 March 2022, private companies ran over 80% of children’s homes (2,208), providing 8,023 (79%) places. LAs ran 13% (340) of children’s homes, providing 16% (1,485) of places.

Twenty-one of these LA homes were run by organisations that provide the children’s services function of the council, including trusts. Voluntary providers ran 94 homes (4%), providing 491 places (5%).

Figure 6: The split by sector of children’s homes and places as at 31 March 2022

^{View data in an accessible format.}

There was an increase in the number of homes owned by private companies by 172 (8%), and in places by 444 (6%), at a slightly higher rate than the overall national picture.

There was an increase in the number of homes and places in LAs and LA trusts compared with 2021. As at 31 March 2022, there were 18 more homes and 64 more places in the LA sector.

Joiners and leavers in 2021 to 2022

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, fewer children’s homes opened, and more children’s homes closed, when compared with the same period in the previous year.

Table 5: The number of places in children’s homes that were newly registered and closed

Number of places	New registrations	Percentage of new registrations	Closed	Percentage of closed
1 to 2	102	34%	39	30%
3 to 4	152	50%	49	38%
5 to 6	39	13%	30	23%
7 to 9	6	2%	8	6%
10 or more	2	1%	3	2%
Total	301	100%	129	100%

Of the 301 homes that opened during 2021 to 2022, 4 (10 places) had closed again by 31 March 2022.

All of the above changes resulted in a net increase of 180 homes and 414 places. Both increases are smaller than the previous year, when there was a net increase of 251 homes and 703 places.

The North West accounted for the highest number of newly registered children’s homes (75 homes, 25%), and places (199, 21%), in line with the previous year. The South West accounted for the lowest number of newly registered homes (23 homes, 8%) and places (59, 6%).

When looking at children’s homes that closed during 2021 to 2022, the West Midlands accounted for over a third of both closed homes (42) and places (153). London (6) and the East of England (5) accounted for the fewest closures.

Table 6: The number and percentage of newly registered and closed children’s homes in 2021 to 2022, split by region

Region	New registrations	Percentage of new registrations	Closed	Percentage closed
East Midlands	40	13%	18	14%
East of England	32	11%	5	4%
London	27	9%	6	5%
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber	26	9%	6	5%
North West	75	25%	22	17%
South East	30	10%	7	5%
South West	23	8%	17	13%
West Midlands	48	16%	42	33%
England	301	100%	129	100%

Table 7: The number and percentage of newly registered and closed children’s home places in 2021 to 2022, split by region

Region	Number of newly registered places	Percentage of newly registered places	Number of places closed	Percentage of places closed
East Midlands	114	12%	80	16%
East of England	122	13%	19	4%
London	125	13%	24	5%
North East, Yorkshire and the Humber	66	7%	60	12%
North West	199	21%	67	13%
South East	115	12%	32	6%
South West	59	6%	62	12%
West Midlands	155	16%	153	31%
England	955	100%	497	100%

The majority of the 301 new children’s homes are privately run (279, 93%). The North West accounted for a quarter of these new private homes (70), continuing a trend from the previous year for having the largest proportion of new private homes. LAs ran 5% (14) of the 301 new homes. Just over a third of these LA homes were in the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber region (5).

Inspection profile of all types of children’s homes as at 31 March 2022

In this section, we report on the 4 types of children’s homes together.

As at 31 March 2022, there were 2,666 (93%) active children’s homes of all types with an inspection judgement. This is an increase from March 2021, when the proportion was just 82% and marks a return to the pre-pandemic level of 94% in 2020.

The proportion of children’s homes judged ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ was 77% as at 31 March 2022. This is a slight decline from 2021, when the proportion was 80%. The remaining 23% of homes were judged ‘requires improvement to be good’ (21%) and ‘inadequate’ (3%).

Although the inspection profile is similar for most types of children’s homes, short-break-only homes had a higher proportion of outstanding homes (19%), though this is a decrease from the proportion in 2020 (29%). This is partly due to newly registered homes receiving their first judged inspections. Existing challenges faced by all children’s homes appear to have been more difficult for newer homes to overcome.

Figure 7: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2022

^{Numbers in brackets represent the number of providers with an overall effectiveness grade as at 31 March 2022.
View data in an accessible format.}

The grade profiles across the sectors are broadly in line with each other. LAs have the highest proportion of outstanding children’s homes (17%).

Figure 8: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2022, split by sector

^{Nine children’s homes are run by a health authority and are excluded from the chart. As at 31 March 2022, all 9 were judged to be good.
View data in an accessible format.}

Inspections of all types of children’s homes during 2021 to 2022

Full inspections of social care providers resumed in April 2021 following their suspension in March 2020. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out a total of 3,293 full, interim or monitoring inspections of 2,554 children’s homes.

Full inspections

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out 2,646 full inspections of children’s homes. In terms of outcomes, 72% were judged ‘outstanding’ (11%) or ‘good’ (61%), with 28% being judged ‘requires improvement to be good’ (20%) or ‘inadequate’ (8%).

Figure 9: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with a full inspection between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

^{There are small numbers of secure children’s homes, making comparisons to other percentages in the chart difficult.
View data in an accessible format.}

There was 1 secure children’s home judged as ‘inadequate’, though in a follow-up inspection it was then judged ‘good’ and so the inspection outcome changed in-year. For this reason, the data for providers as at 31 March does not show any secure children’s homes with an ‘inadequate’ judgement.

Monitoring visits and other inspections

During 2021 to 2022, we carried out on-site monitoring visits, as necessary, to settings inspected under the social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) in line with usual guidance, including to follow up on urgent safeguarding concerns. We also carried out interim inspections.

Since 1 April 2021, there have been 411 monitoring visits to 263 children’s homes of all types. There have also been 236 interim inspections to 235 children’s homes of all types.

Regulatory activity in all children’s homes between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

An important part of our work, which has continued throughout the pandemic, is the regulation of social care settings.

Complaints and child protection notifications

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we received 780 complaints about 575 providers. This is a 16% decrease on the number of complaints received in the previous year (932 in 2020 to 2021). It is, however, in line with the 2019 to 2020 inspection year (788). We received a complaint about a fifth of the homes, which is a decline from the previous 2 years, when around a quarter of the homes received a complaint.

We also received 187 child protection notifications over the course of the year. This is an 11% increase on the previous year, when we received 169 notifications. It is also higher than the number of child protection notifications received in 2019–20 and in 2018–19 (101 and 166 notifications, respectively). However, this increase may simply reflect the growth in providers each year on year.

Of these 967 total complaints and notifications, 736 (76%) had one or more actions recorded by the end of March 2022. Table 10 shows the number and type of actions recorded during 2021 to 2022.

Table 10: Number and type of actions taken in 2021 to 2022

Action taken	Number of actions in 2021 to 2022
Key line of enquiry for next inspection	330
Continued monitoring by allocated inspector	300
Provider-led investigation	192
Other action taken not included in other categories	114
Inspection brought forward	109
Referred to child protection team in the relevant local authority	65
Monitoring visit	58
Compliance and enforcement action	44
Total actions taken	1,212

^{‘Other action taken’ includes any action that does not fall under one of the named categories. An example of this would be a complaint about a possible unregistered children’s home.}

Enforcement activity

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out the following enforcement actions across all children’s homes:

• 79 restrictions of accommodation
• 62 suspensions of providers
• 13 cancellations of providers

The 79 restrictions of accommodation occurred in 65 different children’s homes in 2021 to 2022, with 13 homes receiving multiple restrictions of accommodation in-year. We later cancelled 2 of these homes.

The 62 suspensions occurred in 52 different children’s homes during 2021 to 2022, with 9 homes receiving multiple suspensions in-year. Of these 52 homes, we cancelled one in-year, 22 resigned and 5 were still suspended on 31 March 2022. The remaining 24 homes were active on 31 March 2022.

Incident notifications received from children’s homes between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

As the regulator for children’s homes in England, providers must tell us about the most serious incidents that happen to children living with them and what they have done in response.

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we received a total of 43,416 notifications from social care providers. The majority of these (28,864, 66%) came from children’s homes, in line with previous years.

Almost half of all notifications (47%) received from children’s homes in 2021 to 2022 were categorised as other.Police callouts to the home accounted for around a third of all notifications (32%), broadly in line with the previous year when they accounted for 28% of notifications.

Figure 10: A breakdown of the types of events contained in notifications made by children’s homes from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

^{There were 10 notifications relating to a death of a child, which are not presented in here. Therefore, percentages may not add up to 100.
View data in an accessible format.}

Unregistered children’s homes

Alongside our regulatory work, we receive and investigate notifications about potentially unregistered children’s homes. Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out 420 investigations into possible unregistered settings.

After investigation, fewer than 10% of the 420 settings (33) did not need to be registered. These were mainly providers of supported accommodation and similar unregulated placements. Around 70% of settings (292) should have been registered with us as children’s homes. Most settings have since received warning letters and some will have closed beforehand.

Other social care providers

As at 31 March 2022, there were 703 settings from other social care provider types. Independent fostering agencies (IFAs) and residential special schools accounted for the majority of the 703 settings, with 326 (46%) and 122 (17%) settings respectively.

There was an increase in the number of settings in 3 provider types from 31 March 2021. Another 4 provider types decreased in the number of settings and the remaining 3 had no change.

Once again, the number of residential special schools has fallen, to 122 in 2022. This is a decrease of 4 schools from 2021. Since 2016, there has been a steady fall in the number of residential special schools, from 165 to 122.

The number of voluntary adoption agencies (VAAs) has fallen for the third year, with 2 VAAs closing in the year. This led to a decrease from 37 in 2021 to 35 in 2022.

On 31 March 2022, there were 2 secure training centres operating.

The number of IFAs has increased by 3%, from 317 in 2021 to 326 in 2022.

We have data on the number of places available on 31 March 2022 for the following 4 provider types:

• residential special schools – the number of places fell by 4% to 3,522
• boarding schools – the number of places increased by 10% to 9,789
• further education colleges with residential accommodation – the number of places increased by 3% to 5,211
• residential family centres (RFCs) – the number of places increased by 14% to 371

RFCs have had a steady year-on-year growth for several years, returning to a level of provision not seen since 2012, when there were 65 RFCs. Up until 2017, the number of RFCs had been in a steady decline, with a low of 35.

Inspections of other social care providers

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out a total of 278 full inspections at 278 other social care providers. We also carried out 40 monitoring visits and 1 emergency inspection.

Inspection profile of other social care providers as at 31 March 2022

Of the 703 other social care provider settings, the majority (643, 91%) had a full inspection outcome as at 31 March 2022. The majority of providers (91%) that we had not yet inspected were newly registered between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2022.

Figure 11: Inspection judgement profile of other social care providers at 31 March 2022

^{Numbers in brackets represent the number of other social care providers with an overall effectiveness grade as at 31 March 2022. Two secure training centres have been excluded from the chart; both were graded inadequate.
View data in an accessible format.}

Inspections of other social care providers during 2021 to 2022

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we carried out a total of 278 full inspections at 278 other social care providers. We also carried out 40 monitoring visits and 1 emergency inspection.

There were no residential holiday schemes for disabled children providers inspected during the period. Overall, of the 278 inspections, the majority (86%) were judged ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’.

Figure 12: Full inspection outcomes of other social care providers between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

^{There are 2 secure training centres with inspections that have been excluded from the chart; both were judged inadequate. There were no residential holiday schemes for disabled children providers inspected during the period.
View data in an accessible format.}

Regulatory activity between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

As with children’s homes, we have continued to regulate and register other social care providers during the pandemic.

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, we cancelled the registration of 1 provider, an RFC, following its suspension.

Further information

Notes

All social care providers are inspected by regulatory inspectors and Her Majesty’s Inspectors under the SCCIF, except for secure training centres where there is a joint inspection with other inspectorates.

We inspect most providers annually. These include:

• children’s homes
• residential special schools
• secure training centres
• residential holiday schemes for disabled children

We inspect IFAs on a 3-year inspection cycle.

When we talk about ‘other social care providers’, we are referring to all providers other than children’s homes (all 4 types). In previous releases, ‘other social care providers’ has also excluded IFAs. In this release, IFAs are included in the ‘other social care providers’ data.

Ten LAs have alternative delivery models where all the statutory functions are delegated to third-party bodies, a children’s trust or a not-for-profit organisation. There are also a small number of LAs that have delegated part of their functions to other organisations. All agencies that perform the fostering or adoption functions of an LA must register with us as an IFA or a VAA respectively. They are included in the analysis and the grade profile of IFAs and VAAs, if applicable.

In a small number of cases, when data on the number of places for other social care providers is not available, we have used estimates. For the full picture of changes in the number of providers and places since September 2011, see the underlying data file ‘Providers+places six monthly’ tab.

Due to rounding, percentages might not add up to 100.

There is a quality and methodology report to accompany this release.

Contacts

If you are a member of the public and have any comments or feedback on this publication, contact Adam King (adam.king@ofsted.gov.uk) or the social care team socialcaredata@ofsted.gov.uk.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Leonard Tippetts, Liana Smuk and Klara Davies.

Glossary

Definitions of terms are in the statistical glossary.

Annex: data tables for figures

This section contains the underlying data in an accessible table format for all figures.

Data for Figure 1: LA overall effectiveness as at 31 March 2022 and after first SIF inspection

Period	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
As at 31 March 2022 (150)	13	40	35	12
After each LA’s first SIF inspection, as at October 2017 (151)	2	34	43	22

See Figure 1.

Data for Figure 2: ILACS inspection activity between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Type of visit	Number
ILACS standard inspections	18
ILACS short inspections	5
ILACS monitoring visits	32
ILACS focused visits	74

See Figure 2.

Data for Figure 3: ILACS focused visits by theme between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Theme	Percentage
Children in need/subject to a plan	34
Front door	21
Care leavers	16
Children in care	16
Vulnerable adolescents	6
Achieving permanence	6

See Figure 3.

Data for Figure 4: The number of settings as at 31 March 2022 by provider type, and the change from 31 March 2021

Type of provider	Number of settings on 31 March 2021	Percentage change since 31 March 2021
Children’s homes of all types	2,873	6% increase
Independent fostering agencies	326	3% increase
Residential family centres	68	15% increase
Residential holiday schemes for disabled children	15	17% decrease
Adoption support agencies	38	no change
Voluntary adoption agencies	35	5% decrease
Secure training centres	2	No change
Boarding schools	60	No change
Residential special schools	122	3% decrease
Further education colleges with residential accommodation	37	5% decrease

See Figure 4.

Data for Figure 5: Year-on-year growth in the number of children’s homes and places since 2019

Year	Percentage growth in number of homes	Percentage growth in number of places
31 March 2022	6%	1%
31 March 2021	10%	5%
31 March 2020	7%	1%
31 March 2019	4%	2%

See Figure 5.

Data for Figure 6: The split by sector of children’s homes and places as at 31 March 2022

Sector	Children’s homes as at 31 March 2022	Places as at 31 March 2022
Local authority	13%	16%
Private	84%	79%
Voluntary	4%	5%

See Figure 6.

Data for Figure 7: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2022

Type of children’s home	Percentage outstanding	Percentage good	Percentage requires improvement to be good	Percentage inadequate
Secure children’s home (13)	38	46	15	0
Residential special school (registered as a children’s home) (61)	15	64	18	3
Short-break-only children’s homes (155)	19	65	14	3
Children’s homes (2,592)	12	65	21	3
All children’s homes (2,666)	12	65	21	3

See Figure 7.

Data for Figure 8: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with inspection outcomes as at 31 March 2022, split by sector

Type	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
Voluntary (135)	16%	68%	14%	2%
Private (2,076)	11%	66%	21%	3%
LA (446)	17%	57%	23%	3%

See Figure 8.

Data for Figure 9: Grade profile of all types of children’s homes with a full inspection between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Type of children’s home	Percentage outstanding	Percentage good	Percentage requires improvement to be good	Percentage inadequate
Secure children’s home (12)	33%	42%	17%	8%
Residential special school (registered as a children’s home) (67)	12%	60%	18%	10%
Short-break-only children’s homes (137)	16%	66%	14%	4%
Children’s homes (2,430)	10%	61%	21%	8%
All children’s homes (2,646)	11%	61%	20%	8%

See Figure 9.

Data for Figure 10: A breakdown of the types of events contained in notifications made by children’s homes from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

Type of event	Percentage
Police called (9,094)	32%
Allegation/complaint (3,401)	12%
Child protection enquiry (1,138)	4%
Accident/illness (723)	3%
Missing (561)	2%
Sexual exploitation (487)	2%
Other (13,450)	47%

See Figure 10.

Data for Figure 11: Inspection judgement profile of other social care providers at 31 March 2022

Provider type	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
All social care providers other than children’s homes (643)	30%	61%	6%	2%
Adoption support agencies (28)	57%	36%	7%	0%
Boarding schools (59)	29%	58%	10%	3%
Further education colleges with residential accommodation (36)	50%	47%	3%	0%
Independent fostering agencies (301)	21%	73%	4%	2%
Residential family centres (55)	15%	71%	9%	5%
Residential holiday schemes for disabled children (11)	45%	55%	0%	0%
Residential special schools (118)	46%	44%	8%	2%
Voluntary adoption agencies (33)	42%	52%	6%	0%

See Figure 11.

Data for Figure 12: Full inspection outcomes of other social care providers between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

Provider type	% Outstanding	% Good	% Requires improvement to be good	% Inadequate
All social care providers other than children’s homes (278)	26%	60%	9%	4%
Adoption support agencies (6)	50%	33%	17%	0%
Boarding schools (17)	18%	53%	24%	6%
Further education colleges with residential accommodation (9)	22%	67%	11%	0%
Independent fostering agencies (125)	18%	70%	7%	5%
Residential family centres (26)	4%	73%	15%	8%
Residential special schools (86)	43%	48%	8%	1%
Voluntary adoption agencies (7)	43%	57%	0%	0%

See Figure 12.